Odell Brewing pushes back in trademark clash with Chicago brewery

Odell’s big double IPA is at the center of another trademark brouhaha (photo from Odell).

A small start-up brewery and distillery in Chicago decided to change its name after getting into a trademark dispute with Fort Collins-based Odell Brewing, the third largest craft brewery in Colorado and one of the nation’s Top 50 independent breweries.

This latest in a long line of trademark battles in the brewing industry involves Myrcenary double IPA and a two-man operation that opened as Mercenary Brewery and Distillery last year. In a news release Thursday, the Chicago business said it was changing its name to Maplewood Brewing and Distillery after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Odell.

That is factual enough, Odell Brewing co-owner Wynne Odell said Thursday by phone from Portland, where she is attending the annual Craft Brewers Conference. It just left out an important detail, she said — Odell didn’t go looking for a fight, but only learned about the issue after the Illinois business sought to trademark its name and was denied by regulators because of Odell’s use of the “Myrcenary” term.

“From their perspective, I can understand,” Wynne Odell said. “It’s a heck of a lot of work to make that change. But they should have, could have started to think about it when they realized the name was being already used. So they created some of their own pain by letting it go on for a year. But anyway, there is no animosity between the two breweries. .. Truly, we had a great conversation. We are not out to squash the little guy. It’s like, ‘You made a mistake and you should have addressed it earlier.'”

As the craft brewing industry has grown and original names have become scarcer, trademark disputes constantly rage over brewery names, beer names and more — some involving big beer and others pitting craft breweries against each other. Some disagreements are settled quietly and out of public view, and others blow up. The Strange vs. Strange fiasco, which wasn’t even over when it seemed over, is the most prominent local example of the latter.

Maplewood founders Ari Megalis and Adam Cieslak started off as homebrewers in the summer of 2007, and in January 2014 signed a lease on a 7,000 square-foot warehouse in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, with future plans for a taproom, the release says. Last October, they began to distribute a pale ale and a milk stout. With a federal craft distiller’s license newly in hand, distilling and aging whiskies and gins are upcoming.

This is how Maplewood-formerly-Mercenary described what happened with the trademark issue …

A few months ago, we received a Cease and Desist letter from the attorneys for Odell Brewing Company. This letter alleged that our brewery and distillery name infringed Odell’s trademarks related to their Myrcenary Double IPA beer. Odell Brewing Company holds the trademark to the word “Myrcenary,” which was registered in May 2011. Upon receiving the Cease and Desist, we attempted to work with Odell to reach a resolution that would allow Mercenary Brewery & Distillery to amicably co-exist with Odell Brewing Company’s Myrcenary Double IPA.

We offered Odell multiple potential solutions and explained that we have been using the name Mercenary (albeit informally) since we began homebrewing in 2007. However, as is their legal right, Odell did not allow us to continue to use any form of the word “Mercenary.” Odell was kind enough to allow us to run through our current label stock prior to the name change, which we appreciate.

As a result, and in the interest of not becoming dastardly trademark infringers, we have decided to move forward and change our name to Maplewood Brewery & Distillery. This name was chosen in honor the former village of Maplewood, which was one of the areas that survived the Great Chicago Fire and aided in the rebuilding of Chicago after the fire. Maplewood was annexed by the City of Chicago in 1889, and helped form Chicago’s Logan Square, which we think is pretty cool. Maplewood is also where our brewery and distillery is currently located (2717 N. Maplewood Ave). After running through quite a few potential names, we agreed that Maplewood Brewery & Distillery works out nicely.

Records with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show Mercenary Brewery and Distillery filed a trademark application in December 2013. The office gave an initial rejection of the claim in March 2014, saying confusion with Odell’s nationally distributed beer was possible because the names sound the same. The double IPA’s name is a play on “myrcene,” a component of essential oils in the hop flower.

The trademark office then rejected a Mercenary Brewery and Distillery response challenging the initial finding, noting that “myrcene” is too obscure for most drinkers to recognize as differentiating the two products, concluding: “The fact remains that there is no correct way to pronounce a trademark and the applicant’s and the registrant’s marks clearly sound and look very similar.”

Wynne Odell said the Mercenary folks thought that the change in the second letter of the word (the ‘e’ instead of a ‘y’) was enough to prevent consumer confusion. Odell Brewing does not agree, she said. In any case, Wynne Odell said Odell Brewing did not learn about the claim until after Mercenary Brewery and Distillery’s mark request was denied a second time.

“It isn’t like we are constantly trolling to make sure our trademarks are being upheld,” she said.

Because the Chicago business could have made another filing with the trademark office to keep the issue alive, Odell sent out the cease-and-desist letter, she said. That began discussions between the two businesses. Rather than fight on, the Chicago brewers and distillers opted for the name change.

Cieslak, of Maplewood Brewing and Distilling, said Thursday his business was not trying ti infringe on Odell’s trademark or cause trouble for Odell. Even after finding out about the Myrcenary tradmark after the initial rejection, Cieslak said he didn’t want think it would be a problem because the uses of the term seemed so different, for a single beer versus a brewery name.

Blogger’s note: Cieslak asked that the following be added: “I just wanted to make it clear that we thought (and still do think) it would’ve been possible to co-exist without any issues due to multiple factors: the meaning of Myrcenary (directed toward a hop oil myrcene) as Odell uses it vs. the meaning of Mercenary (soldier-of-fortune) as we used it are very different; the spelling and the overall terms “Myrcenary Double IPA” vs. “Mercenary Brewery & Distillery” are very different; our term being directed to an overall brewery organization as compared to Odell’s being directed to a single beer; and that we had been using “Mercenary” for almost 4 years prior to Odell’s trademark registration. So because of all of those reasons, it wasn’t a problem for us because there wasn’t any confusion between the different two terms.”

Cieslak said in retrospect, the brewery/distillery could have done more to research its trademark application, but “we don’t have the resources to kind of blow this thing up in a whole legal battle.” Once Odell’s lawyers sent the cease-and-desist letter and after discussions failed to find a way for the startup to keep some version of its name, Mercernary Brewing and Distillery dropped its trademark claim, he said.

“It’s just one of those things,” he said. “We tried to find a way for us to coexist. We are not trying to speak ill of Odell. We understand they are protecting their trademark, and that is what the attorneys advised them to do. It’s business, I guess, at some point.”

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